This week’s reading: Matthew 4:1-11
Hi Friends,
This week’s reading is Matthew chapter 4 verses 1 through 11. After Jesus is baptized, we hear how the Holy Spirit leads Him into the desert to be tempted by the devil. There is a huge difference between being tempted and being tested, although very often God uses the same exact situation. Let’s talk about that and some other ways you and I can defeat this enemy too. Listen to the first temptation of Jesus:
“The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”’” Mt 4:3-4 NIV
Tempted or tested? When the devil sticks his nose into any challenging situation we are enduring, he is trying to get us to fail. This is temptation. Yet when God allows any challenging situation into our lives, it is for our own benefit. God knows that, if we choose to trust Him, we will pass the test and be stronger than we were before. This is testing, and a big part of the way God matures us. Again, it may be the same exact circumstance, yet the outcome is as different as night and day. The devil wants us to fall into the temptation, which will drive us further away from God and all that is good. We end up confused instead of peaceful. We feel depressed and stressed instead of joyful and strong. And instead of doing the righteous thing, we often do the selfish thing and Pride wins, while we lose terribly. Yet the more tests we endure, the more opportunities we have to learn to trust God, no matter what, and to hold on to Him so we CAN win. This is what the Bible calls fighting the good fight of Faith. And every test/temptation we go through in life, all boils down to this: will we trust God or Self? When we choose Self, we are acting like that old, evil serpent. But as we grow and choose to hold on to God, white knuckled, we are acting like Jesus, Who was victorious in every moment of His life here. Because of this, Jesus was able to always have peace, joy and righteousness as He remained connected to the Holy Spirit. Let’s look at some of the ways Jesus was victorious in this first encounter with the devil after He began His public ministry. Let’s join Jesus in the desert….
Jesus is a Human who fully leaned on the Father. One of the first things we read, is something we must know deep in our hearts, so that we will follow His lead. Jesus was out there in that wilderness, on His own for 40 days and 40 nights with nothing to eat, so naturally He was hungry. This should point us to His very real Humanity. You see, Jesus understands us because He felt everything we do…and then some. This should also help us relate to this God Man more intimately. He gets it when we feel alone. He gets it when life gets a bit dry. He gets it when we hunger and thirst for things like healthy relationships, for answered prayers, for a breakthrough from bad habits, and so on. He understands us, because He became like us, tempted in every way, yet He did not sin. (Heb 4:15) Jesus was more than a conqueror…and now He longs to help us live that kind of life too, more and more. And as we learn from Him, as we grow in Him, as we choose to trust God like Him, we can sense victory more and more, like Him. With Him, in Him and through Him. This is the life we were created to live, and we see in these lovely, and challenging verses, how Jesus did it successfully. Let’s choose to follow this King right into victory, shall we?
Jesus did not question His identity. The very first words out of the devil’s mouth should make us stop and think. He says, “IF You are the Son of God….” Do you see his strategy here? If the enemy can get Jesus to question Who He is, then he can get Jesus to act like He does not belong to God, that He is His own Man, that He can do whatever He wants, whenever He wants, however He wants. Are you getting this? Is the enemy playing this dangerous game with our current culture too? Of course he is! The moment we are not firmly grounded in our identity in Christ is the very moment we start acting like that old, selfish, prideful, MMI person we used to be before we became a New Creation in Christ. If we doubt God, if we doubt our connection to Him, if we doubt His love and provisions and mercy and grace, etc, we will be right back where we were when we were apart from Jesus. And the Bible…no, moreover Jesus Himself says, you can do nothing apart from Me, (Jn 15:5), so we certainly cannot win any battles against this very real and evil enemy either! The only way to win is to follow Jesus, trusting the Father and who He says we are, the way Jesus did when He walked this earth. Who we envision ourselves to be will determine what we do. There should be a huge difference in the way we acted when we thought we were our own boss, and now that Jesus is our Lord. We should be more peaceful, joyful, patient, kind and so on. (See Gal 5:22-23, the Fruit of the Spirit) If we allow the enemy to make us doubt our identity in Christ, then we are not following the Immaculate example of Jesus who always relied on the Holy Spirit to guide His steps, to give Him insight and strength, to fill Him with godly wisdom and a compassionate heart. Don’t we want to live our lives like that? I know I do! And it all starts by understanding, deep in our hearts, that God loves you, personally, right now, just the way you are. Because of this eternal love, He sent Jesus so that, when we surrender our will to His, He makes us a New Creation so that we can live like Jesus. My Friends, if I cannot teach you anything other than this, then I will have fulfilled my mission. Let’s choose to be grounded and established in our new Identity in Christ, shall we?
Jesus was tempted, but never sinned. We humans are tempted in every part of who we are: spirit, soul and body. While God transforms us from the inside out, the devil tries to tempt us from the outside in. See here how he started with the body of Jesus by trying to get Him to feed his hungry stomach. The enemy tries to get Jesus to provide for Himself, instead of trusting for the Father to provide for His superficial needs. Yet Jesus fights back with the most powerful weapon in the world…more on that in a minute. Jesus chooses God over Self, trusting the Father to provide for all His needs. He would rather starve than step out of God’s Holy Will. How inspiring! The next temptation moved inward to the soul: our mind, emotions and will. The enemy tries to get Jesus to act foolishly by telling Him, falsely BTW, that if Jesus throws Himself off the top of the Temple, God would surely protect Him. This was a ply to stir Pride, that ugly “I am the most important person ever, so I am entitled to do what I want” mentality, but Jesus won’t have any of it. The truth is God is not obligated to protect us from our own foolishness. If we do something, and on purpose, to challenge or test God, then many times He will let us fall on our face. We must never forget who is the Master and who is the servant! When God moves our hearts to do something, then we can be confident He will provide and protect, whichever way that looks. But when we try to push Him to do that which He finds unwise? Well, let’s not test Him and see what happens, ok? The last temptation of Jesus is the spirit: will Jesus worship the devil? Whose heart will Jesus belong to: the Father or Himself, or worst of all, the devil?! Here’s the thing, you and I might never outright “worship the devil,” but when we act like him, when we choose Self over God, aren’t we kind of following his lead? This should be sobering, my Friends. It should leave us with at least a little “fear of the Lord,” shouldn’t it? When we act like our old self, we are acting like the Prideful devil…but thank God for His Mercy and His Grace. Again, He understands us and knows we are still works in progress. Yet let’s choose to learn from these three temptations from the enemy, so that we can fight the way Jesus, did and grow so we do not fall into any temptation, more and more, shall we?
Jesus fought using three powerful words. So how did Jesus have victory in each of these tests? Here’s a cool thing to understand, Jesus is the Word of God Incarnate, Who certainly knew the written Word of God intimately and thoroughly. Those three powerful words are simply: “It is written.” Jesus fought each battle with Scripture: the first with Dt 8:3, the second with Dt 6:16 and the third with Dt 6:13. Because Jesus knew the power of Scripture, He was able to recognize the devil’s lies and fight back with the Truth…and the Truth literally set Him free! Free from choosing Self over God. Free from foolishly acting according to Pride instead of being wise and keeping Himself safe. And free from worshipping anyone but God, who is the only one Who can fill our lives with all that is perfect and good. (Jas 1:17) Here’s the trick, my Friends, in order to utilize this very potent weapon, you and I must know the Word of God too. You cannot use what you do not know how to use, right? And we cannot just memorize one or two verses and think we can frighten this enemy who does know God’s Word. The difference here between him and Jesus, of course, is that the devil tries to twist and turn God’s Word so it fits his own evil, selfish purpose. Note how he tries to misuse Psalm 91:11-12 to confuse Jesus into falling into sin! (see v6) We must know the entire Bible if we hope to be skillful wielders of this mighty Sword of the Spirit. (Eph 6:17) As we grow in Christ, reading, studying and applying the Bible should be our daily task, as well as our daily privilege and pleasure too. This is how we can live the Abundant Life, leaning on God and His Word to fight off the enemy and his lies and temptations. Again, if the devil knows the Word, shouldn’t we know it better? Let’s choose to make God’s Word, both Incarnate and written, a priority in our daily lives, shall we?
Tests are for our good. Last point, when we are undergoing a test, very often we will not sense God’s Presence. Think a teacher in a classroom giving her students a test. She is not going to give them the answers, right? She stays there with them, watches over them as they take the test, but she remains quiet. Same idea here. One of the biggest parts of any test is to be secure that God is still with us, even when we do not notice Him. His promise stands: He will never leave us nor forsake us, praise God! (Jos 1:5; Heb 13:5) Think also of a parent teaching their infant to walk. The parent lets go of the child’s hands as they beckon them forward, being right there to catch or help them if they happen to fall. This is the Love of our Father. To test us so we know what we know, as well as how much we still have to learn. But whether we sense Him or not, He is always by our side, rooting for our success. Let’s choose to learn to trust God as Jesus did here…and once Jesus passes every test and was successful, the devil flees and the Angels come and attend Him! (v11) Wouldn’t that be awesome! I know the more I choose to trust God, especially through the hard times, the stronger He makes me and the more abundant my life gets. Do you want that too? Then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
